The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Rohingya refugees at the Pauktaw camp in west Burma. Photograph: Kate Hodal for the Guardian Qutub Shah  RB News   January 20, 2013 (Edited by Mayu Thitsar) Pauktaw: Yesterday, the chief minister of Rakhine State, Hla Maung Tin, went to Dumfara village, Pauktaw Township, where about 8000 Rohingya refugees live. The chief minister said, “All of you must go back to your own homes.” The refugees replied, “Unless our houses are rebuilt and enough security forces are provided, we will not go back there because Rakhines will terrorize us again.” Then the chief minister said, “We cannot rebuild your houses as we don’t have any plan to do.” It sounds that Myanmar government wants to materialize the pre-hatched plan of Thein Sein as he said. “We will keep them as refugees in camps.”

                                         Photo Kutupalong unregistered refugee camp THAILAND - The people of Ranong will oppose the setting up of a refugee camp for Rohingyas in the southern coastal province, their leader said yesterday. Sucheep Patthong said his group would launch protests if there were reports indicating the government intended to open a Rohingya refugee camp in Ranong.

Iran is working to open an embassy in Myanmar, says a spokesman for Iran’s Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy. Seyyed Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini said on Saturday that the government of Myanmar has taken into consideration Iran’s offer to establish an embassy in the country and that initial preparation have been made for that matter. 

Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu JEDDAH: P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR The Feb. 6-7 Islamic summit in Cairo will deal with major challenges facing the Muslim world including the Syrian crisis, the Palestinian issue and Rohingya and Mali issues, said Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

A Muslim Rohingya man sits at his burnt home at a village in Minpyar in Rakhine state, Myanmar, on October 28, 2012. (file photo) An Iranian MP says the Islamic Republic plans to set up a camp in Myanmar to help the efforts to provide relief to the country’s Rohingya Muslims. On Saturday, Majlis (parliament) National Security and ForeignPolicy Committee Deputy Chairman Mansour Haqiqatpour said agreements have been reached with senior Myanmar officials to set up a camp in Rakhine state that can accommodate thousands of Rohingya refugees and where food can be provided for them.